Independent Kurrajong MLA Thomas Emerson has called for reforms to the ACT’s early childhood education and care sector, saying newly released government documents reveal regulatory failures that have put children at risk.

Mr Emerson outlined five priority reforms after the release of thousands of government documents, which he says exposed loopholes and inadequate regulatory action across the sector.

He said the documents showed serious shortcomings in child safety oversight and argued the ACT Government had been aware of the issues but failed to act.

Mr Emerson said he would call on the government to update the ACT’s Early Childhood Strategy with a stronger focus on child safety, introduce land use reforms to curb the unchecked corporatisation of the sector, close loopholes in the Working With Vulnerable People scheme, increase resourcing for the regulator, and impose fines for serious or repeated child safety breaches.

“These reforms are uncontroversial. They’re things we should be doing already,” Mr Emerson said.

“Our regulatory system has allowed dodgy operators to put children at risk of serious harm. It’s completely unacceptable that children are experiencing abuse and neglect in places responsible for their care.”

He said consultation with families and the sector over the past six months had informed his proposals, and criticised the current Early Childhood Strategy for making only limited reference to safety.

Mr Emerson also raised concerns about land use policies, which he said had allowed large corporate providers to undermine community-run centres, and about reliance on self-reporting within the Working With Vulnerable People scheme.

“It’s also clear that we need to ramp up the regulator’s compliance functions, which will require appropriate resourcing,” he said.

Mr Emerson said it was alarming that the ACT’s early childhood regulator, Children’s Education and Care Assurance, had not issued a single fine in the past five years, despite what he described as significant breaches revealed through the document release.

“Caution notices and second chances might be appropriate at times, but particularly egregious incidents and repeated failures must be met with genuine consequences,” he said.

Mr Emerson is seeking community feedback through an online survey here until Monday, February 9.